Protests outside funeral home holding accused marathon bomber

Saturday

May 4, 2013 at 6:00 AMMay 4, 2013 at 8:41 PM

By Thomas Caywood and Linda Bock TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

The body of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect killed in a shootout with police lay in a Main South funeral home Friday night while a vocal band of protesters stood across the street objecting to the remains being brought into the city.

The body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev will remain at the Graham Putnam & Mahoney Funeral Parlors until a cemetery willing to accept it for burial can be found, a search that proved fruitless Friday.

The presence of the infamous remains inside the stately white Victorian building, on a busy stretch of Main Street lined by shops and businesses, attracted about 100 people by late evening — as well as a heavy police presence, a half-dozen television news trucks and a helicopter circling overhead.

Waving American flags and “Boston Strong” signs, protestors chanted “We don't want him here,” and “Shame on you,” eliciting supportive honks from some passing motorists. Police erected wooden barricades on the sidewalk in the front of the funeral home.

While some protesters outside the funeral home expressed outrage that the alleged bomber's family would bring his body to Worcester to be prepared for burial, others shrugged and observed that someone has to see to the funeral.

“I'm not honoring a terrorist. I'm just burying a body,” said Peter Stefan, owner of the funeral home.

Mr. Stefan said everybody deserves a proper burial and that he would pay for whatever expenses the family cannot cover. He said he does not plan to file an application for Safe Burial Funds, which often pay for burying the poor.

“He doesn't deserve it,” Mr. Stefan said.

Worcester Police Chief Gary J. Gemme said he likely will keep officers stationed outside the funeral home at 838 Main St. as a precaution as long as the body remains there, although he may reassess the need for them if the crowd of onlookers and media dwindles through the weekend.

“We are in discussions with the funeral home so they can absorb some of the cost,” Chief Gemme said.

Members of Mr. Tsarnaev's family first contacted Graham Putnam a couple of days ago as authorities prepared to release the body. An uncle, Ruslan Tsarni of Maryland, went to the Worcester funeral home Thursday afternoon to work with Mr. Stefan on funeral arrangements. The body arrived there Thursday night.

Mr. Stefan has not talked to Mr. Tsarnaev's widow, Katherine Russell of North Kingstown, R.I., about the funeral arrangements.

As word spread Friday morning that the remains of one of the suspected bombers were in Worcester, TV news trucks from Boston and a few curious locals congregated on the sidewalk, drawn by the spectacle of a tragic story that has made headlines around the world.

Some prominent members of the neighborhood praised Mr. Stefan's three-decade history of providing funeral services for those addicted to drugs, shunned by society or short on cash.

“He's probably the only one in the state who would do this,” said William T. Breault, chairman of Worcester's Main South Alliance for Public Safety.

Mr. Breault said he respects the funeral director's commitment to bury those who led troubled lives that left them without mourners, but feels Mr. Stefan went too far in accepting the suspected bomber's body.

“I told him to his face, 'Peter, you're wrong on this one.' He's just plain wrong to bring in a dead terrorist,” said Mr. Breault, who paced the sidewalk across from the funeral home while speaking to reporters.

Among the neighborhood residents who gathered there, answering questions from passing motorists about what was going on, opinions ranged from indifference to outrage.

“I think Peter is a brave man for taking on this responsibility,” said Doug Medina of Worcester. “Somebody has to bury him. He can't hurt us anymore now and it has to be done.”

Nery Lopez, who heard the news in Maria's Kitchen down the street, called Mr. Stefan a good and decent man.

“This guy deserves to be buried, he's still a human and I'm sure his parents are suffering,” Ms. Lopez said.

But Charlene Guinard, who lives in the neighborhood, said she was appalled to hear the funeral home had agreed to handle the burial.

“He should be overseas where he belongs,” Ms. Guinard said. “He just bombed Boston. My kid was there the day before he bombed it. I can't believe he's in there. This is crazy.”

Mr. Stefan said logistics and expense ruled out returning the body to Mr. Tsarnaev's native Kyrgyzstan or the Dagestan region of Russia, where his parents now live.

For now, while Mr. Stefan continues looking for a cemetery, the body is destined to remain in the Worcester funeral home.

Mr. Stefan, who has been a funeral director for more than 30 years, said he has handled arrangements for more than 100 Muslim burials and is experienced in their religious rites.

“The Muslims have to wash his body,” Mr. Stefan said. “We have the soaps, no animal fats, for the washing of the body. Then the body is wrapped in a shroud.”

Several protesters showed up outside a North Attleboro funeral home Thursday night where Mr. Tsarnaev's body was taken initially after its release by the state medical examiner.

The Tsarnaev family has said they are trying to arrange an independent autopsy, which Mr. Stefan said could be performed at his funeral home if the family wishes.

As for the controversy swirling on the street and on social media about the funeral home handling the burial of an alleged terrorist, Mr. Stefan simply said the job of funeral directors is to bury the dead.

If he can't find a cemetery willing to accept the body, Mr. Stefan said, he will have to ask the government to intervene.

Mr. Stefan said he will be responsible for filing the death certificate in Boston after the burial.

Former District 4 City Councilor Barbara G. Haller called Mr. Stefan a kind, gentle, nonjudgmental man who has served on the board of directors for a local homeless shelter. She said she understands that having Tsarnaev's body in Worcester will be hard for some, but someone has to oversee services for the family.

“He takes people who don't fit into the mainstream,” she said. “He's just going about his business.”

Shamil Mohammed, president of the Worcester Islamic Center, said Friday that no one from Mr. Tsarnaev's family contacted his center about funeral arrangements.

Worcester does not have an Islamic cemetery, so usually a family member of a deceased Muslim in the area will contact the center, and the center will make arrangements, Mr. Mohammed said.

Muslims typically bury the body quickly. The process entails washing the body and wrapping it in a simple garment. There is a short prayer over the body, and then it is moved to the burial grounds.

Compared to the more ceremonial Christian burial, the Muslim process is more simplistic, he said.

The center has spoken out critically against the marathon bombing suspects, yet it can't lower itself to not afford a person his basic right to a proper burial, Mr. Mohammed said.

“This is not acceptable for any human being,” Dr. Imad Khreim, a center board member, said of the attacks.

“I have three boys who were in Boston and they were watching the marathon. What do you think I felt?” said Dr. Khreim, who was speaking as a member of the Muslim community, but not for the board.

“There's no decent human being who will accept this kind of indiscriminate, violent behavior. (But) where you bury him and how you bury him — I think somebody has to bury him,” Dr. Khreim said.

Mr. Mohammed said his center was more focused on doing its work to have a positive impact on local Muslims and the general Worcester community.